Child Labour Elimination Actions for Real Change (CEAR) Project, with funding from Elimination of Child Labour in Tobacco Growing (ECLT) Foundation, has handed over three teachers’ houses at Mankhamba Junior Primary School to Ntchisi District Council.
Speaking at a handover ceremony that was held on Wednesday at Mankhamba Primary school in the area of Traditional Authority Kalumo, the Executive Director for ECLT Foundation, David Hammond, said that his organization is satisfied with the way the work has been accomplished. Hammond stated that building and renovating schools is one way of helping families make the choice of sending their children to school instead of exposing them to hazardous work in tobacco farms.
The Executive Director for YONECO, MacBain Mkandawire, who was also present at the function thanked the community members around the school for their contribution towards the construction of the staff houses. Mkandawire stated that Malawi needs such committed citizenry to achieve social economic development.
Further to this, the Executive Director for YONECO urged learners at the school to know that as the government and other development partners are doing their best to improve the quality of education, it is their responsibility to exercise their right to education by attending classes. Mkandawire also called on parents in the area to send their children to school instead of pushing them to work in tobacco fields.
In his remarks, Ntchisi District Education Manager, Votie Mboweni, said that the staff houses will help to improve the welfare of teachers, a thing that will directly lead to positive scholastic outcomes among leaners. Mboweni added that teachers used to walk over 6 kilometers to reach the school something that had a negative bearing on their performance as well.
Meanwhile, ECLT through CLEAR project is also funding the construction of two additional teachers’ houses and a staff room at the school.
CLEAR Project is being implemented by a consortium of three partners namely; YONECO, Total Land Care and Creative Centre for Community Mobilization (CRECCOM). The project is being implemented in Mchinji, Ntchisi and Rumphi districts with the aim of tackling the root-cases of hazardous child labour in tobacco growing.
